Another Other
by ekcobase
Summary: Mara Jade is rescued from the Emperor at a young age, and is taken to Yoda to be trained. An AU ranging from 12 BBY to the end of RotJ, featuring Mara Jade, Yoda, plus Luke and Leia at a distance.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: **This is a sort of prequel to a post-RotJ AU I'd like to write at some point. I'm writing it as a way of working out the differences in Mara's character if she had a different upbringing, as an alternate version of her would be one of the characters. I'm also interested in the idea that Yoda might have back up plans (as suggested by his reference to 'There is another', hence the title.)

**Another Other**

1.

12 BBY

Mara's small form clung to the large man's shoulder as he carried her inside the dingy building. She peered through her tangled red hair to see where they were. The room, scattered with a variety of aliens and humans sipping drinks at tables and in shadowy booths, was punctuated by a long bar running down it's centre. A bulky man wiping glasses behind the counter looked up at them sourly, and Mara felt as much as saw the attention of the customers flicker towards them. Curiosity, she felt, particularly at her; the man who carried her belonged here, she did not.

"This is no place to bring your younglings," the bar man barked at them, flapping his dish-rag towards the door.

"Not mine," the man carrying her replied gruffly. She still did not know his name, for all the weeks they'd spent together now. "Merchandise. I'm meeting a buyer."

The bar keep huffed slightly but seemed mollified. Mara felt the attention from round the room drift off into disinterest.

As he carried her over to a booth in the far corner, Mara wondered at his words. Had he been lying to her all these weeks? Did he really mean her harm after all? Was he just like the others who had stolen her away before?

She felt his mind reach out to her mind to soothe her. She felt rather than heard the sense of it; _trust me._ That was what the Dark Man had said too. But this one felt different.

He settled her down in the darkest corner of the booth, pulling the woollen hood that had fallen off her outside from his pocket and making a valiant attempt to cover her hair with it once again. The poor man seemed utterly bemused as to what to do with a small girl – her hair hadn't been brushed since the day he'd found her. He signalled for drinks to be brought over. Only one appeared. Mara supposed 'merchandise' didn't get drinks.

They waited some time. Mara took in everything around her as her companion sipped at his drink in silence. It was so different from everything she had known. All this grime and dirt and sticky pools of some spilt drink on the table was nothing like the crisp, brightly lit rooms she had spent her entire time in the last few years. Nothing like her more distant memories either, of a place filled with warmth and love. She tried to cling to those memories, secretly, against the demands of her keepers, but they slipped further and further away all the time, wiped out a little bit more every time she had been shown to the Dark Man and he reached into her mind…

Mara shut her eyes tightly against the thought. Maybe she would have to forget the warm place if she were to forget _him._ Maybe she would just have to. Although that felt like letting him win in some way…

Feeling her distress, the big man looked down at her, meeting her wide green eyes, and awkwardly took her hand in some gesture of comfort. "It's alright," he said softly. "You'll be safe soon."

They both turned heads at the same time to glance at the door, even before it swung open. She could _feel_ the approach of the newcomer even before the hiss of the door release. Someone who stood out, felt iridescent against all the other beings here. Mara found she held her breath as the door slid apart – only to narrow in confusion and disappointment. In the entrance stood a diminutive figure no bigger than herself, swathed in dark red robes with a hood drawn deeply over it's face, revealing only red electrical lights for eyes glowing from underneath. The new arrival scurried in and chattered at the bar man in a strange language. After reaching up on tiptoe to collect his drink from the bar, the small figure scurried over to their booth and clambered up onto the bench opposite them.

"A _Jawa_, huh?" The man beside her said incredulously. "They're not exactly common in this part of the Galaxy, you know." Mara glanced with wide eyes between the two beings as she realised this was who they had come to meet.

The creature chattered at them loudly in what sounded like a rude way, but then an entirely different voice laughed softly from under the hood. "Known well enough they are, that someone can look them up and think them plausible here. And more convenient disguise than Ewok, by far." The figure chortled, and Mara found herself suppressing a small laugh herself. It faded away as the strange artificial eyes turned on her. "So this is her, yes?" Mara felt the creatures' scrutiny pressing against her, and shrunk back against the back of the booth, quivering. But the probe against her senses did not turn into the intrusion and pain of the Dark Man, but instead fluttered lightly against her sense of herself and withdrew.

"Hm," the little creature grunted. "Strong she is, yes. Much potential. But also quite damaged, already. A risk it will be. Not part of our plans."

"Not part of my plans either, old man," her rescuer said. "This is not my war. I want no part of it."

"Yet rescue her, you did. Much risk, you took, much risk. You _knew_ you had to." It was said lightly but there was something both accusing and mocking in his tone.

"Yes, yes I did, and I'm pretty sure I'm going to regret getting involved. But once I felt what she was, what they were doing to her, I couldn't just leave her." He sighed heavily. "But you have to take her from here Master Y-" he cut off the name abruptly as though remembering where they were. "I can't look after her. I wouldn't know where to start. I have no way of finding her parents, they're most likely dead. I can't _protect _her."

Mara felt tears welling up at his blunt appraisal of her situation. But she knew it, knew somewhere deep inside that it was true. She had lost the sense of her parents the day _they_ had taken her, and she knew this gruff but kind man wouldn't be able to stop the Dark Man finding her and taking her back. She pushed the tears back down, deep inside her, as she'd long learned to do; crying would make no difference to her fate. The Dark Man had made that clear.

The hooded figure appraised her again, and sighed a deep, heavy sigh. "Unexpected this is."

"You have seen nothing of her? In the Force?" The man's voice dropped even lower at that last word, and she wondered what it meant.

The small figure sighed again. "Seen her I have. Seen many fates for her. But not this one. What you have done, it changes everything. Not meant to cross, were our paths."

"So you won't take her then?" There was despair in the man's voice. Mara could hear, and feel, his panic as he didn't know what to do.

The cowled figure went very still, glowing eyes becoming obscured as he glanced away in contemplation. Silence fell over the table, the sounds of low conversation and clinking glasses in the cantina reasserting themselves in Mara's ears. She felt her entire future hang in the balance.

And abruptly the choice was made, the die cast. The shadowed face turned back to them. "Take her I will. Train her. _Protect_ her." The small figure chuckled. "Always in motion is the future. In the face of that, a back up plan a bad idea is not."

The ramp of the transport rose and sealed to the hull with a dreadful finality, the face of her nameless rescuer disappeared in a narrowing sliver until he was gone from her sight. She had gripped him tightly round the neck in a silent farewell that seemed to surprise him, and she could feel that he never expected to see her again. Her fate was set now, with this strange little creature taking her who knew where.

He had picked up a gnarled little walking stick from beside the ramp as they boarded and to her surprise leant heavily on it as he tottered forward. She looked curiously round the small space. On the outside the ship had seemed small compared to the other ships docked around it, silver with smooth sleek lines but heavily battered with age and lack of maintenance. The inside was even smaller, consisting only of the small space she was in, which crammed in a galley space, a couch come bunk and a refresher, and through a hatch at one end she could see the windows of a small one person cockpit, the small figure silhouetted against them as he fiddled with various buttons and leavers. Lights flashed on here and there and the metal flooring beneath her feet started to vibrate as the engines warmed up.

The creature returned from the cockpit, still leaning heavily on the stick. He stopped right in front of her. Looking at him face to face properly for the first time, she noted that, even though she was just six years old (she thought) herself, she was already taller than this strange creature who had taken charge of her. They stared at each other for a long moment.

"Are you really a Jawa?" she asked with narrowed eyes. She didn't even know what one of those were yet, but it seemed a good place to start.

The figure chortled with more amusement than the comment really warranted. "Jawa? No, Jawa I am not." He reached up and pushed back the deep hood, and two long pointed ears, adorned with little wisps of white hair, sprung free. They were incongruous against the dark mask beneath them, and a small hand quickly pulled that away as well. The face was green and wizened with age, but she found her eyes drawn to the large brown eyes that examined her reaction intently. "Master Yoda, am I. And what do they call you?"

"Mara. I'm called Mara. _They_ called me Mara Jade. I think I used to have another name, but I… I can't remember it now," she admitted with some distress.

The little man nodded. "Well then. Mara you shall be."


	2. Chapter 2

2.

Mara stared at the small hut ahead of them. Yoda had landed his transport some distance away, and their path thus far had been hard and winding, clambering between tangled vines and wading through muddy sections of swamp. Every part of her felt damp and clammy, and she was sure she couldn't find her way back again if she tried.

Now Yoda tottered ahead of her towards the domed construction wrapped in the roots of a strange tree. He still leant heavily on his stick, but somehow had found traversing the swamp far easier than she. The strange little building was dark and felt empty and unwelcoming.

Yoda disappeared into the darkness of the little arched entrance. Mara cautiously stepped after him, ducking her head slightly to get in. As she stepped into the main space inside, Yoda waved a hand and crystals embedded in the walls began to glow gently. She looked curiously round at the mud walls and rough furniture. "You live here?" she asked incredulously.

Master Yoda crouched beside a small fireplace, arranging kindling. "My home this is. And now," he glanced back at her with a wizened little smirk, "your home it is too."

The girl could do nothing but stare around her, trying to take it in and process this strange place. The clean, crisp surfaces of her last home, constantly cleaned by droids, had always seemed so cold and hard, like the people keeping her there. Now this place, so wet and dank but filled with so much life – she caught glimpses of little creatures scuttling away in the corner of her eyes – it was more different than anything she had ever been able to imagine. It held no physical comforts. And yet… and yet… such a creature, who lived in such a place, couldn't be anything like her previous caretakers, could he? Couldn't be like the Dark Man? She found a little comfort in the thought.

The fire took and warm light spread around the small space, flickering and glancing dark shadows off the walls from the various strange objects and tools scattered round the place. After a few moments the warmth started to spread through the space; not that the humid air needed extra heat, but it seemed to banish the damp a little. "Come, sit." Master Yoda told her, as he reached for a pan. Mara jumped slightly as one floated off the wall opposite them and deposited itself neatly in his hand.

"How… how did you do that?" she stammered, but he just chuckled, arranged the pan over the flames and started depositing ingredients into it.

At a loss, Mara moved to the space opposite him to sit as instructed, having to duck her head down in places as she manoeuvred round the hut. The top of her head skimmed close to the ceiling and it was a relief to sit and not worry about banging her head.

"Learn to do that too, would you like?" Master Yoda asked her casually, as he stirred the contents of the pot.

"I don't know. How did you do it?"

"Heh. Straight to the point you are. Move it I did not. The Force, it did."

Mara considered it. "The Force. Is that what the Dark Man used on me?"

Yoda eyed her carefully. "Yes, yes it is."

"Does that mean you're like him?" Fear welled up inside her.

"In some ways, yes. In most, no. For a Sith is he. Sith I am not."

"What are you then?"

"Jedi."

"What is that?"

"Show you, I will. If you are willing."

She considered it for long moments. "Will it keep me safe? From the Dark Man?"

The little alien's wrinkled face folded as he pursed his lips in thought. "Not safe." He answered. "But safer than if learn you do not."

Mara nodded, turning her options over in her mind. If Master Yoda had powers like the Dark Man, and he taught her those powers too, then maybe the Dark Man would never be able to hurt her again. In a small but determined voice, she finally spoke. "Show me, Master Yoda. Show me everything."


	3. Chapter 3

3.

10 BBY

Mara sighed as she stirred the pot for what must have been the millionth time. She hated Master Yoda's sense of humour at times, especially when he applied it to her training. He had ordered her to sit beside the bubbling pot of stew and keep on stirring until he returned. When she asked how long that would be, he chuckled and told her that to reveal that would ruin the exercise. She was to learn patience and focus, and being able to maintain those without knowing when the need for them would cease was, apparently, vital. And she would be the one to scrub the pan out if the food got burnt on.

It was a punishment, Mara knew. She had lost her temper with his stupid exercises the previous day, fed up of going over the same old thing again and again, never seeming to progress, and never starting to feel the power that would make her safer, make her be able to look after herself at last. After her outburst had ended, Master Yoda said nothing but merely sighed deeply and announced the day's lessons over.

This morning she had woken to the familiar sweet, sour smell of his usual stew and the sight of Master Yoda holding a wooden spoon up ready for her to take. A few words of instruction: "Stop stirring do not. Never let the stew become still, or know I will." And then he had tottered towards the archway out of the hovel, glancing back with just one last word of advice. "An opportunity, this is. To practice your skills in the Force, yes. But only if you think in the right way will it come."

Mara sent the best of her scowls at his back, but he disappeared outside without any indication of concern. She settled cross-legged beside the fire and started to stir, chin rested in her free hand.

After a very short time, boredom set in, and her arm began to ache. She tried changing hands a few times, but it didn't help with the boredom. Her mind ached for stimulation all the time. Life on Dagobah was usually anything but boring, divided as it was between lessons with Yoda, chores (some of which were a bit dull, but Yoda shared the work and made them companionable and fun), and in her limited free time, having the run of the jungle nearby, so full of life, provided endless possibilities for exploration. Despite the climate and the rough hut and strange food and creatures, she was, for the most part, happy in this strange place.

But stirring a pot was boring. Really, really boring. Master Yoda knew her too well.

With a sigh she remembered his last words and decided to apply them. _Practice her skills._ Well that was clear enough. Force applied to spoon would mean less work for her arm, right? But her control when moving objects was still not good. Even getting them moving at all was a great effort, much less directing what they did. Mara took a deep breath, and focused. Feeling the handle of the spoon through the Force, she let her hand drop away.

The spoon clunked against the side of the pot as she failed to even hold it upright. Mara scowled at it, quickly grasping the spoon again in her hand and stirring the gloopy stew hard before it could start to stick.

She tried a number more times with little improvement, and the effort of trying tired her far more than just stirring the stew by hand. Mara sighed once more. Knowing Yoda, that might be the point he was pushing. She resigned herself to the normal way being easier, if tedious, and stirred, and stirred, and stirred.

Before long, her mind began to drift. First, thoughts of her chores to be done, when Master Yoda would return, and whether he would relent and give her proper lessons today. The spoon in her hand turned, and turned. Thoughts of what she would do once her personal time arrived. The place in the story she was reading in the evenings, and where it would go next. Getting out into the jungle outside, finding her favourite hidey-hole, and acting out the more interesting parts of the tales with the rudimentary toy figures her Master had carved for her. The spoon moved round and round the pot, but her glazed eyes no longer saw it. The jungle outside, its moisture and luscious growth. The feel of it, beneath her feet, on her hands as she grasped vines, the dank air inside her nostrils. The sense of it, deep inside her, the emanating Force from all this life, reaching to every part of her, until she felt no longer inside the small hut but instead out there, part of it all…

And through the trees and leaves and vines and plants and animals, a luminous being, like a beacon drawing her in. She felt towards it through her sense in the Force. The familiar, safe sense of her protector and tutor, glowing within the Force, absorbed in his own working within the life energy of the Universe. He did not react to her mind's approach, and she found herself drawn into his own meditation, seeing with him what he saw.

Lush green rolling hills. A beautiful city. A grand, elegant building; a balcony. A small girl, dark haired, playing with small animal figures with a white haired companion. The girl turned as though expecting to see something behind her. Large brown eyes, framed in a pale face surrounded by that hair, which was trying to escape an elaborate style. Mara looked at her in fascination, this little girl who must be around her own age. The girl stepped to the balcony balustrade, looking around, out at the glorious landscape, a smile of happiness and love for her home on her lips, before turning again and re-joining her game with her friend.

The vision slipped backwards, out across plains, up into the sky, through atmosphere, faster and faster, flying through the stars before abruptly focusing on two brilliant suns over a yellow planet. Down the vision flew, to sun starched, barren plains, light so brilliant the land itself was blinding. Flying across rolling landscape again, but this time shifting hills of yellow. To a white dome shaped building beside a hole in the baked ground. In the shadow of the building, a small boy sat, hair bright blonde as though to match the sand around him. Rough toys carved from whitened wood and formed out of pieces of scrap metal were scattered around him. One sat in his hand, meant to be some kind of fighter, and he arched it through the air around him, mouth pursed to make noises Mara could not make out. Abruptly he looked up, right at them, but frowned in confusion, as though he saw nothing there, and went back to his swooping arm movements.

Abruptly, Mara felt them pull back, through atmosphere, through space, back into Dagobah's familiar environment – and found herself tipped abruptly out of the vision and back into herself in the little hut.

_Hitchhiker have I gained,_ she heard Yoda's voice in her mind. _Stay there until I get back, you will._

Mara's eyes widened as she focused once again on the stew in front of her and started stirring vigorously. She could feel the thickness at the bottom of the pan as globs of food had started to burn on to it. How long had she been inside Yoda's vision? She stirred for all she could as she waited for her Master to return, desperately trying to scrape the burnt bits from the bottom.

In quicker time than seemed likely for the elderly figure, Yoda's small form shuffled through the doorway. Mara ducked her head down, focusing on the stew, in the vain hope that Yoda may have forgotten he incident in the few minutes that had passed. Instead, he came over and sat on the other side of the hearth, resting both hands on the top of his walking stick, and stared at her intently.

"An aptitude, it seems you have, for the skills of seeing and communicating through the Force."

Mara looked up at him cautiously. He didn't seem to be angry. But then, Master Yoda never did, really, though he pretended at it sometimes.

"Heh, heh, learned my lesson a little too well, you did. Serves me right, I suppose."

"You… you wanted me to meditate?" she asked cautiously.

"Yes. Many of these boring exercises intended to focus your ability to meditate are. Succeeded at your task, you did."

"Oh." She stirred the pot again. "Even though I burnt the stew?"

"Heh, unfortunate but necessary price it was. Expect you to do so well, I did not. Saw too much, you did."

"Who were they?" she asked, burning with curiosity. Other children, like her. It seemed a miracle they existed, a strange dream.

Master Yoda sighed. "Special children are they. Strong in the Force, but with a tragic history, a difficult future."

Mara frowned. "Why are you not training them then? Like me?"

Her Master shook his head. "Too dangerous it is. They would be found, and hurt, and never fulfil their destinies. And fulfil them they must, or all is lost."

"Oh." Her heart sank a little, as her imagination had already raced away with the idea of them coming here to Yoda, training with them, being her friends. "What about me? Do I have a destiny?"

He pursed his lips. "Difficult to see. Many futures, all too different to pull apart. Hope I do, that one day help these younglings in their task to return the Jedi to the Galaxy you will."

"Can I see them again? Through the Force?"

"No, too dangerous it is. Today was unintended, but untrained as you are, your seeking them could drawn attention from those that hurt them would." Yoda reached over and took the spoon from her hand. He ladled out a little of the mixture and sipped at it, only wincing slightly at the ruined flavour. "Hmm, good this is, little one. Eat, eat."

Feeling exhausted and sensing the conversation to be over, Mara pulled a couple of bowls from the shelf to be filled.


	4. Chapter 4

4.

7 BBY

Matted, tangled hair flying out around her, Mara ran joyously through the jungle, launching herself off logs and over patches of bog, bouncing off tree trunks and clambering nimbly between branches. Running free like this, using her muscles and lungs and eyes and senses made her happiest. She could feel every part of the jungle around her, and it felt as though they worked together to guide her through rather than being a battle of her body against nature.

Eventually she bounced, using the Force to push a little higher, up into the spread branches of her particular tree. She easily found purchase and settled down into its embrace, knowing from long experience the most comfortable way to position herself. From her pouch she pulled the battered old data pad she shared with Master Yoda. Both the power for it and the time with it were precious. But within it's memory cells lay the galaxy beyond, all it's stories and landscapes and histories and dreams. In these precious hours of freedom from chores and instruction, to simply sit and read, here in her favourite tree, was her preferred occupation.

She flicked at random through articles, letting instinct – or the Force? – guide her as she usually did, until she came to something that drew her interest and imagination. Today she browsed through entries on planets, waiting for one to draw her in and tell her it's stories. Brown, white, blue-green, purple-orange, metallic orbs all flickered in front of her eyes, and then a yellow-gold one appeared. It held her attention for long moments as she somehow _felt_ it, so far away. The image showed two suns just rising behind the globe, and with a flick of her fingers, she went to the full entry.

'TATOOINE' read the heading. She scrolled down, taking in the basic information. Not much of interest beyond an intriguing connection to smuggling and the criminal world. But she found herself reading on anyway, looking at images of sun-baked sands and familiar rolling dunes. Natives called Tuskens, 'Sand People' more colloquially. The efforts to farm even enough moisture to survive. She wondered why anyone would bother to try, on a world so barren of life. She shifted against the bark of her tree, glad to feel it's life under her, feeling lucky this place was hers.

Mara stared at the images of white dwellings against golden backgrounds and felt herself drawn in, her eyes becoming hazy as she recalled the boy she had seen years ago, sitting in the sand playing. Something about the sense of him burned in her memory, and instinctively she reached out, feeling towards that sense of the golden planet far away. In the blink of an eye she found herself in the flow of the force, taking her to that place just as when she had accidentally followed Yoda's vision a couple of years before. Now her strength and control of the Force was far more developed, and she realised that she could now do this for herself, without needing Yoda to guide her through it. Golden sands seemed to fly beneath her before she knew it, and even as she did so, she recalled that she should not do so; she should shake herself out of this vision, as Yoda had warned her against seeing them again. _But what harm can a little peep do?_ she asked herself, as the white dome of his home shot into view. Just to see another human face, another child, like herself. What would it be like to know him, to play with him? To run across sand-dunes with him, bounce through jungles?

Before she knew it, she found herself abruptly out of the dazzling sun and through a wall into a cool stone interior. Two scrawny legs poked out horizontally from under some strange machine. A voice, feminine, but echoing oddly through her sense of the Force, came from outside; "Luke? Would you like a drink?"

The legs shot out from under the machine, followed by the skinny form of a boy dressed all in white, topped with a still sun-bleached mop of hair. _The boy_. He sat up eagerly, putting down some tool as he turned to the voice. "Yes please, Aunt Beru!"

A homely, middle aged woman pushed her way into the room, balancing a tray before her containing a couple of drinks and a plate of some unfamiliar snack. The boy, who Mara judged couldn't have been much older than herself, pushed himself to his feet and wiped oily hands on his clothes. Mara caught the woman giving him a rueful glance and a 'tut' at the action, but she handed him the drink without comment.

"Your uncle was looking for you. He wants a hand with something."

"Aww, do I have to?" The boy's tone was somewhat whiney. "I really want to get finished here!"

"He said something about finally letting you tinker with that new 'vaporator. Since you did so well at fixing up that battered old one."

"Really?" The boy's face lit up with a big, unreserved grin. "Well, maybe I can leave this till later."

"That's my boy," his aunt said with a gentle smile, and reached up to ruffle his hair. Mara felt a pang at the sign of affection, the loving look on the woman's face. What would it be like to have someone to care for her like that? Not that Yoda was bad company, but… on some level, she knew it was not the same. The boy bounded up the steps to the door…

And Mara found herself falling, yanked abruptly from the vision, and landed hard on her side in the damp foliage at the bottom of the tree. She gasped in shock and pain for a moment, then squinted up at the tree branches above. Yoda perched in the bowl of the tree where she had sat, the scowl he threw down at her thunderous.

"What did you do that for?" she spat out, pulling on the Force to try and suppress the pain from her side, where surely a large bruise would soon emerge.

"Same question might I ask you!" the little Jedi Master growled back, stepping forward out of the tree to jump down gently and easily despite the tree's relatively great height compared to his stature. "Told you I did! Seek him do not, I did say!" He stepped towards her, bringing his walking stick up to poke her in the shoulder. "Risk everything, you do! Because you will not do as you are told!"

"I… I'm sorry, Master Yoda. I didn't mean to…"

Ancient eyebrows raised mockingly. "Help yourself, could you not, eh? This little control too difficult, is it? Perhaps you have not what it takes to be a Jedi after all!"

Mara ducked her head in shame, tears of failure stinging in her eyes. All retorts drifted from her mind in the face of Yoda's disappointment in her. He may not give her the affection Luke's aunt provided, but he was all she had. "Master Yoda, I'm sorry. I was wrong. I just wanted to see another person, to know they're out there. But I was wrong."

Silence fell between them for a long time. Then Yoda sighed deeply. "A good place to grow up, this is not." He finally said. "But the best we have it is. Get up, child. Return home. Fix this mess, I must."

As she stumbled away through the jungle, Mara could feel her Master slip into his own meditation, reaching out himself to communicate with someone. Not the boy, someone else… But she knew already that she would not dare to ask who.


	5. Chapter 5

5.

4 BBY

She'd known it was there for a long time, of course. As her training had opened her up to the Force, it had impinged itself more and more on the edges of her consciousness. In her travels around the jungle, she had instinctively avoided the place. It felt like the Dark Man of her distant childhood memories. She did her best to avoid the place, but at times of tiredness and weakness, it pressed against her senses, and took her back to distant, buried memories.

And now Mara walked towards that place, led inexorably by her master. Master Yoda had abruptly shaken her awake in the early hours, before light had even begun to penetrate the thick canopy of the jungle planet. He had only instructed her to get up and get dressed, with no explanation. A bowl of basic gruel had been shoved into her hands as she did so, the message clear that there was to be no dawdling today. No explanation either, it seemed, as Yoda's usual constant observations were absent. But for all that she knew exactly where they were going. Today it called to her, and her Master willingly led her there, as though encouraging her to embrace that call.

Eventually they stood before it; the giant tree that engulfed the entrance to that place. The Dark Side cave. She gave it the hardest stare she could, and yet found herself flinching away from it anyway, feeling the waves of evil and sheer power in the Force emanating from it. She felt Master Yoda studying her reactions intently, and a quaver of fear ran through her. _What if I fail him?_

"What is this place?" she asked him, as much to break the oppressive silence as anything. The usual sounds of the jungle were muffled and even silenced here. After years of those sounds as constant company, their absence felt like entering a deep void.

"A place of testing. Where we shall discover whether you stay a youngling, or a Padawan you become."

Mara swallowed, and nodded. "Yes, but what happened here? To make it like this?"

"Irrelevant, it is, to whether you pass or fail."

"True, that may be," she retorted, "but is it not best to go in to anything forearmed with all the knowledge you can find?"

Master Yoda chuckled briefly. It was a welcome break to the silence of the place. "Help you it will not, but if you wish. A great battle was fought here, between light and dark. Dark lost, but its mark is left here forever. Now, protect us it does, as we hide in its shadow."

Mara nodded. Clever. So that was how a being who glowed so brightly in the Force could hide her from the Dark Man. "What do I need to do?"

"Go inside. Face your fears. See who you might become."

She nodded again. "What do I need to take with me?"

His tiny shoulders lifted in a shrug. "Nothing. Everything. No difference will it make."

Mara walked to the tree and pushed aside the vines. She lowered herself into the hollow of the cave below, which enveloped her in darkness. Her eyes struggled to adapt to the pitch black – and then she found herself blinded by bright searing light, and waves of heat.

_She stood on the scorching hot metal of some kind of barge, floating above a sea of sand. Those dunes were familiar somehow, but she could not place them at that moment, could not recall when she'd ever been there before. Glancing down, she felt vaguely surprised at the sight of unfamiliar feminine curves caught up in tight fabric, cut closely and revealing a lot of skin. She glanced up and shook her head to clear the sense of discombobulation. Now was not the time to get distracted. In mere moments, she would fulfil her Master's orders and be able to get off this stinking sand hole._

_She looked down from the sailbarge to see several skiffs floating around it, taking up position around the Sarlac. Horrible creature, and not an efficient way to kill someone. Her lip curled in contempt. It would serve though. She merely needed to make sure it all went off without a hitch. On the prisoner's skiff, a gangplank extended. A small compact man in black stepped to its edge. How was he so composed in the face of this? He flipped a little salute with his hand. Mara found herself smiling at his cockiness. He must have a plan. She looked around for possibilities._

_A little further down, one of the serving droids had worked its way to the edge of the barge. What was it doing there? A compartment opened and something small and metallic caught the sun as it popped up. Ah. So that was his plan. It was the droid Skywalker had 'given' to Jabba. Jabba really was an idiot. Good job she was here to cover for his stupidity._

_Skywalker jumped neatly off the plank, grabbed hold of the end of the board and flipped himself back up. The droid sent the inevitable lightsabre arcing up into the air. The man landed back on the skiff, reaching out with arm and Force to pull the weapon to him. But in the time it had taken him to flip over, Mara reached out herself and snatched it from the air. It never reached his hand. _

_In alarm, he searched for where it had landed, and his eyes rested upon her. She held it up, laughing, but found her laughter suddenly die on her lips as his pleading eyes met hers. Pleading blue eyes, somehow familiar, but she couldn't place them._

_But then he fought. Even without the sabre, he fought them with all he had. She felt the hard cold metal of the sabre biting into her skin as she clutched it tight and watched as he fought tooth and nail. Then abruptly it was over – the blaster shot of one of the guards in the centre of his chest. He froze for a moment, then toppled back off the skiff, down towards the monster below, one arm still reaching out, as though beseeching her…_

_She travelled back in triumph to her master. He lavished her in praise, rewarded her greatly. Told her that now she had been the architect of the downfall of the last Jedi, she could now take the next step. She could now begin to learn the secrets of the Sith._

_When Vader learnt what she had done, he tried to kill her. He knew then that the Emperor knew he had plotted to overthrow him with the help of this boy, and he needed to make his move. But it was a trap that she and her Master had prepared for him. Vader fell._

_The Rebels gathered at Endor, and fell into the Emperor's trap. Mara waited on the forest moon to ensure the shield did not fall. Rebels shattered and scattered, and the second Death Star was completed. The Emperor's grip on the Galaxy was complete._

_Lady Jade became his Enforcer, gifted the _Executor_ to travel the Galaxy carrying out his will. She hunted down the remnants of the Rebellion. Their light spluttered out of the Galaxy._

_Years passed, her Master ruled unopposed. He became bored of it all, withdrew from public life into his obsessions with the Force. Opposition to him grew inside his own ranks – those hungry for power, seeing it unused, wanting it for their own. Always loyal, she destroyed them wherever she discovered them._

_Then it all changed. She discovered his deceit. He had other Hands, other Sith acolytes, always had. For all her faith in him, he had always been prepared to replace her on a whim. She sought them out. Deep in the Dark Side now, she killed them one by one. Then she went to face him._

_She couldn't defeat him with the Force. He was too powerful, always would be. In the end, she reverted to the training of her youth. A simple garrotte round his crinkled, aged neck, allowed so close because he simply no longer bothered to question her loyalty._

_The reign of Sith Empress Jade began. _

Abruptly Mara jerked out of the vision, finding herself in darkness. She felt damp soil under her hands and through the knees of her trousers. She tasted something foul in her mouth, and as her eyes adjusted to the dark, she realised she had vomited on the ground in front of her. The Dark Side sense of the cave, and of her vision, filled her with disgust, as it must have during the vision to provoke this response.

She pushed herself back, wanting only to get away from this place. Desperately she pulled herself up a thick vine and back through the hole, falling on to the ground outside gasping for clean air. Somewhere in the distance, Master Yoda stood, leaning against his little stick, watching silently.

Eventually she pulled herself together and made it back up on to her feet. She staggered out to Master Yoda, feeling the influence of the Dark Side cave fall away behind her.

"Did I fail, Master Yoda?" she asked him desperately.

He stared long moments at his hands, lips pursing. "Neither pass, nor fail. _Learn_, you did."

He turned and started making his way back through the jungle. Mara stared after him, trying to work her way through the jumble of her thoughts and emotions.


	6. Chapter 6

**6.**

0 BBY

Mara bounced through the swamp, turning somersaults to get past the deeper parts, ducking and weaving through low branches and small thickets, always aware of the small form and sense of the shape nestled against her back. No matter how abrupt her turns and spins, how extreme her leaps, Yoda never seemed to be perturbed by it, trusting always her skill in the Force.

They burst into a clearing, and she felt the light tap of his tiny hand on her shoulder to stop. She pulled up, reminded abruptly of how small he seemed to have become, fitting neatly into a simple backpack she could carry around with her. Master Yoda had always been smaller than her, for as long as she'd known him, but now she towered far above him and could carry him as though he were now the child.

"Concentrate. Find your calm centre, you must," he whispered in her ear. She stilled herself, closed her eyes and pushed away the adrenaline and endorphins of her run. She cleared her mind and waited patiently for the test she knew must be coming. What would it be this time? A test of reflexes, judgement, or perception? Yoda had many tricks he could pull to test her, and never seemed to run out of new ideas. She focused on everything around her, attuning herself through the Force… she felt her master reaching out through it himself… she felt a stick on the ground beneath them raised slowly in his force grip, up to shoulder height, then it swung at her…

With a _snap-hiss_ she ignited her lightsaber and swung at the stick, eyes still closed. She knew the parameters of this test of old. Yoda wanted her to deal with the threat from sense alone. The first strike made no contact, but she felt the stick twitch to one side. She struck again, and this time hit home – the stick split in two, and fell harmlessly to the ground, never having reached her.

"Good, good," she heard Master Yoda say quietly next her ear. "Feel the Force flow through you. Only sense is it that you…"

Abruptly Mara was driven to her knees, a lurching sense hitting her in the stomach and driving pain through her senses. Realising she was still completely open to the Force, she shut her senses down as quickly as she could. Coming back to herself, she felt the small form against her back quavering and shaking in his rucksack. She gently swung it from her shoulders and looked down at the small form of her Master, who was gasping in shock. He dragged himself out of the bag and simply knelt on all fours for long moments. Mara had never seen her Master look so vulnerable, for all his tiny size. More than that, she felt his pain emanating through the Force – his pain in response to whatever it was she had just felt herself.

"Master Yoda… what – what was that?" she asked hesitantly, afraid of the answer.

His breath started to steady, and he shifted himself into a seated position, eyes closed as though searching inside himself.

"Death. Death of billions."

"What?" she asked, alarmed. "Where? How can that have happened?"

"Happened, something terrible has. What, I know not yet. Meditate, I must." He tried to push himself up, but struggled, the experience they had both just felt clearly taking it out of him. So tuned to the Force as he was, Mara supposed Yoda must have felt what she had a million times more clearly. She reached out a hand to help him up. "Let me help you, Master," she asked earnestly. "We both know I have a talent for that. Let me help."

He turned those large, luminous eyes on her, considering. "Yes. Yes, a little help in order may be. When nine hundred years you reach, so bad to have a little help it is not, mm? Help me to the hut."

She helped him back to their home, and once inside, they settled themselves into their familiar positions for meditation and opening themselves to the Force. But this time, for the first time, it was not for practice. This time they had a purpose and a need, and she could finally turn her skills towards what she had been raised to do. They went through the usual motions and soon she found herself being drawn into a deep Force trance. Not to see something in the present, this time, but instead searching backwards, seeking a vision of something that had happened, at that point in time when the Force itself had screamed out. She knew she was seeing through Yoda's senses – his ability to sift through the vastness of the Galaxy and time to find one specific point was far beyond her yet. She felt gratified and honoured though, that he was for the first time making her a party to it.

Through stars their Force sight flew until abruptly the image of a blue-green planet hung before them, framed by a strangely shaped window. Flashes of faces; stark cheekbones; a dark mask; a young woman, horror etched across her face. Then the planet exploded. A billion people cried out in terror, and Mara felt as though they heard the scream of every one of them. Desperately, she yanked herself out of Yoda's vision.

She opened her eyes to see the broad face of her master opposite, his eyes still fastened shut and only a calm expression on his face. How could he remain so impassive in the face of that? Long moments passed, and finally he opened his eyes, and let out a great sigh.

"An entire planet? How is that possible, Master Yoda?"

"A terrible weapon, our enemies have built. Tried to stop them, our allies have – but too late, for Alderaan, it was."

_Alderaan._ Mara was familiar with the name, had read about that great bastion of peace and civilisation. It had seemed like a distant fairy castle, not really real. And now it really wasn't.

"Who… who was the girl?"

"Leia. Princess of Alderaan. Great hope of ours, she was. Now… this changes things. Contact Obi Wan, I must."

"Obi Wan?"

"Obi Wan Kenobi. One of the last of the Jedi, he is. Leia's adoptive father had sent her to find him, introduce her to her brother. Set in motion our plans. Now – everything is changed. Reach him we must. Help me."

Mara could see the exhaustion in Master Yoda's face, and reached out her hands to take his and lend him her strength, her ease in communicating through the Force. She tried to clear her mind, which was spinning from all the information Yoda was suddenly revealing. Over all the years, for all the allusions to a great enemy and plans to defeat them, Yoda had never told her anything _specific._ Now the information was coming too quickly to make sense of.

What they did now was simpler – reaching out to make contact. Mara strengthened her exhausted master, but it was he who sought out and found their target.

_"Not now, Master Yoda,"_ came the response.

_"Update me, you must,"_ came Yoda's response, insistent and authoritative.

_"I am on the Death Star, a weapon of the Empire that has destroyed Alderaan. The twins are both here, but I fear the girl is lost to us. I am now seeking to disable the shields so that Luke can escape with the plans of the weapon, which are inside Anakin's old droid._

_"I feel my time is soon to be at an end, Master Yoda. Farewell, my old friend." _

_"Hmm, on board the Empire's weapon, he is," _Mara heard Yoda's voice in her mind. The perspective shifted and it seemed they looked down from the ceiling of a clean, crisp corridor, such as she hadn't seen since she was very little. An old human with a beard, cloaked in brown robes, sidled down the side of a corridor. She watched, entranced, knowing this was the Obi Wan that Yoda had been speaking to. They followed his progress through identical corridors, slipping past strange but familiar guards in white and black armour, using the Force to distract them. Finally he reached some kind of large generator and sidled round it to pull down some levers – this seemed to have been his intent.

They continued watching as he sidled away again, making his way back – somewhere. Ah, a ship, he was trying to reach a ship, presumably to escape. But instead the man in black with his terrifying mask blocked the way. Mara watched in horror as the men drew lightsabers and laid into each other, words passing between them that she could not make out.

A voice from one side cried out abruptly "Ben? No!" The old man glanced over at something, then calmly lifted his lightsaber in front of his face… and let the masked figure strike him down.

The vision abruptly shattered, anchored as it was to Obi Wan, but as they fell back to their own bodies, Mara heard his voice echo distantly; _"Run Luke, run!"_

She let go of Master Yoda's hands and opened her eyes. Master Yoda let out one of his great sighs, and his shoulders hunched as though under a great weight.

"He's dead, isn't he?" Mara asked abruptly.

"Yes, dead he is," Yoda confirmed. "But with his death he has bought the freedom of both the children. A chance there is now, that destroy the weapon they will. Defeated we are not, after all."

"A chance? Can't we help them?"

"No. This battle they must fight alone."

"What! You're just going to sit here when their fate – the fate of planets – is at stake!"

"Yes," Yoda stated, unrepentant.

"Why?" Mara felt rage rising at how unmoved he seemed, and tried to push it back, like a good Jedi.

"Because live, someone must, to pass on the Jedi ways. If succeed they do, here I must be, ready to teach them."

"But if they _don't_ survive, what will be the point? Who will you have to teach then?"

"You. And pass on what you have learned you will. And the Order, die will not. That is more important."

"More important than billions dying?" She stared at him in exasperation. "Let _me_ go then, Master Yoda! I will help them! Give me your ship and I will go and find them, help them fight the Empire. They have no Jedi to guide and help them now…"

"No. Not ready are you."

"Not ready? I've been training all my life, they have no training at all!"

"Know not how to fly a ship do you. And reach them in time you would not."

She tried her best to repress the anger growing inside her. "So I'm stranded here am I, Master Yoda? Whose fault is it that I don't know how to fly? You've never let me near your ship, I don't even know where it is." She had looked for it many times, but Yoda had concealed it too well. She started to have a creeping feeling that this place was not so much a refuge as a prison. "When _will_ you teach me to fly, let me leave this place? What is the _point_ of all this training if not to go and fight for what is right!"

Yoda looked up at her with a hard face. "When started this we did, you wanted to learn to be safe. Not to a warrior become."

"I was a child then, Master Yoda. I've come so far. They need my help…"

"No help will you be if dead you are, or lost somewhere in deep space."

She knew the truth of his words, and collapsed back into the wall behind her. She stared at him for long moments, defiance still raging in her. All these plans and secrets, and she knew so little of any of it, or what he planned her role to be.

Eventually, eyes still locked on hers, Yoda nodded. "Time to teach you, it is, about the ways of the outside world. Neglected this I have. Teach you to fly, I will, and how humans will expect you to act. Blend in. All these things you must learn. Then when ready you are, send you on a mission, I shall. If succeed you do, become a Jedi you will, and help rebuild our ageless order."


	7. Chapter 7

7.

3 ABY

Mara moved smoothly through the familiar kata's with her lightsaber, opening herself to the Force with ease. It came unconsciously now, trained from early childhood, needing more conscious effort to close down her sense of the universe around her than to feel it now. Through that sense, she was unsurprised at the emergence of another person's sense nearby; not Yoda's glow, but another that had become more familiar these last few years.

Mara did not interrupt her exercises, she continued until every smooth movement was complete. At the end, she took a deep breath, the lightsaber blade vertical before her, and slowly exhaled. Once she had finished, she flicked the switch and the purple blade disappeared, leaving silence in the wake of it's humming blade.

She opened her eyes and began walking to where she felt Yoda and the visitor to be. There was no stealth or creeping up on them; now she knew everything about the past she felt no hesitation simply walking in on the conversation. As she came round the trunk of a particularly large tree, she heard low voices conversing and the flickering of a strange, eerie light. She stepped into the clearing to see Master Yoda sat on a log talking to the incorporeal form of Obi Wan Kenobi.

"It is time, Master Yoda. We have dithered too long," the ghostly form stated.

"Ready he is not. Rash and impatient he still is."

"He will remain that way until he receives proper instruction. I have taught him all I can, Master. He needs you now."

Yoda grunted, looking unhappy, but then gave a great sigh. "Very well. Call him you shall. Send him to me, and his training we shall truly begin."

Obi Wan's ghost nodded, and then turned and looked directly at Mara. A benevolent smile crossed his face. "You do well, child," he said directly to her. "Soon, you will be ready for your trials. Play your role well." And with that he glanced at Yoda, and then faded away.

They both stayed in still silence for a few moments, as though observing the Jedi's passing once more. Then Yoda shifted out of his position down onto the ground and started towards their hut. Mara fell in beside him, trying to keep her excitement contained. "Is the boy to join us here then, Master Yoda?"

"Come to me, he shall. It is time for him to be trained."

Another person – a real live person! – here with them at last! Mara could hardly contain the surge of excitement she felt. Someone to train with, talk with, share meals and conversation with, who _wasn't_ Yoda. The boy was so far behind her in his training, of course, so she would have to help him, spar with him, reassure him when Yoda's demands seemed impossible… A thousand fantasies of companionship she'd kept deep inside her for so long blossomed to the surface. And of course if he was to come to them, his sister could not be far behind.

"How will you bring his sister to us? She never knew Kenobi. Will she come with her brother?"

Yoda paused mid stride, then continued on, not even glancing at her. "Train with him Leia will not."

"What? Why not? They are already both so old to begin training, and she hasn't even started yet. Surely you cannot delay her training any further?"

"The sister will be trained not at all."

"What?" The statement so surprised Mara that she stood stock still. She knew that Yoda had watched over the girl as much as the boy, for as long as she could remember. She knew Yoda believed the girl to be as strong in the Force as her brother; it was only a pity she had never met Kenobi as planned and so that seed had never been nurtured. But so powerful in the Force were the twins that even now, that potency could still be developed. Why would they hesitate?

Yoda continued on in silence for a few moments, and Mara could feel conflict in his sense in the Force, something she had never felt in him before.

"Too mired in darkness, is the girl. The loss of her home world, weighs her down it does, _drags_ her down. Risk it we cannot. Or she might fall like her father."

"You're not even going to give her a chance?"

"No. Too much at stake, there is."

"Can we really afford not to train her? Would you rest everything, the whole Jedi order, on just Luke and I?"

Yoda's shoulders heaved with another great sigh. "We have no choices left. Rest on him, our fates must."

Mara strode forwards to fall in beside him again. Disappointment bit at her guts that the girl wouldn't be joining them. It seemed an unfair judgement, that she should be written off without even a chance to step into that wider world, to discover her inheritance in the Force. But given her father's fate, Master Yoda and Kenobi's concerns were perhaps understandable. But the unfairness of it still unsettled her. "When will Skywalker join us?" she asked instead.

"Reach here in a few weeks, he will, if survive he does. But join _us_ he will not."

She frowned. "What do you mean?"

Yoda stopped and turned to look up at her. "A mission I have for you. Your first, in your trials to become a full Jedi. You are to take my ship and leave here, to find something most important you must."

"A mission?" She had longed for it for so long, waited for her moment to prove herself so patiently, wanting to be let loose on the wider galaxy, start making it a better place… but why now? Her eyes narrowed. "You want me to leave?"

"Yes. The time has come. We will begin praparations; leave in the next few days you will."

"Before the boy gets here? I don't understand. Shouldn't we at least meet first, if we are to rebuild the Order together?"

"No." Yoda said decisively. "You must stay hidden from him, for now. Too many variables, too many risks. If he should fail, you must be ready to step into his place."

"Wait, what? _I'm_ the back up?" She felt anger rise inside her. "But I've been training my whole life for this! He's barely started. Shouldn't he and I be working together for this?"

"No. A destiny he has. Long we have seen it. He must kill Vader and the Empire. If we introduce you to him now… too many complications will it introduce. Too many variables we cannot control."

Mara felt bitterness rise inside her. An ancient memory rose, of when she first met Yoda, of his reluctance to take her. His surprise at her appearance… now she realised he _knew_ things about her, about what her future could have been. He must have known, all along, that horrible future she had seen in the cave. He didn't trust her any more than he trusted Leia. And neither of them had _done_ anything to deserve this mistrust.

"This isn't fair, Yoda!" A slight whine emerged in her voice, and she hated herself for it. It was not Jedi-like. But right now she felt all sorts of un-Jedi-like feelings. Loss of childish dreams of company, anger at the way she and Leia were being treated, and jealousy – jealousy of this boy with a destiny that could have everything they couldn't; Yoda's faith in him. She was being sent away to be supplanted with this farmboy; she had only ever been a back-up. She turned away, bitterness sitting hard in her stomach.

"You have a role too, my child." Yoda said to her back. "Rebuild the Jedi Order, and begin that now we must. Holocrons you must find for me; the knowledge and history of our order that has been stolen. Without it, you and the boy's task will be impossible. Easy it will not be, but if you fulfil it, true Jedi you shall be. The first of the new. Trust me in this you must, young Padawan. You and the boy our last hope are."

Mara heard his words and stared up through the canopy, desperately seeking sight of the stars she was being sent to, the stars she had longed to explore for so long. And they both knew that she would go.


	8. Chapter 8

8.

4 ABY

Mara jabbed urgently at the data terminal keys, senses wide open to everything around her, alert for discovery at any moment. She finished entering the search parameters, then drummed her fingers impatiently as the screen informed her the data base was searching, searching… She took deep breaths, calming herself, centring herself, just as a good Jedi should. But for all the training, she was not used to the reality of being on a mission. Tendrils of fear crept in for all her efforts to push it aside. She felt the presence of suspicious minds, still distant, but getting closer. _Hurry up, hurry!_ she thought fiercely at the blinking screen.

Finally the answer flashed up. _Imperial Centre?_ Mara recoiled at the realisation, and for a moment lost her focus on what was going on around her. The sound of heavy boots on hard floor brought her abruptly back to her current situation. The Imperials – Stormtroopers from the sounds of them – were almost on her. With a few quick strokes she removed the evidence of her search as best she could, then slipped away down a side corridor. Pausing briefly in the shade of a small alcove, she used the Force to enhance her hearing and focused it in the direction of the terminal she had just left.

"Someone has just been using this terminal, sir," came an artificially modulated voice filtered through a Stormtrooper helmet.

"There shouldn't be anyone in this section at all," an authoritative, clearer voice responded sharply. "Can you see who accessed it, and what the search was for?"

"Not without getting a tech down for a more thorough check sir. The search has been cleared."

"Sound the alarm – we have an intruder."

Mara didn't wait to hear the rest, and started to run on soft feet down the corridor. A moment later she was nearly floored by the overwhelming sound of claxons in her ears and desperately shut down the hearing sense she'd forgotten to close off. Pushing herself off the wall she'd fallen against, she continued her run, the beat of feet too close behind. Something exploded not a foot away from her – blaster fire now, the Stormtroopers had her in their sights. The exit to the docking bay was just ahead.

Time seemed to slow even as she ran, sensing the flight of blaster bolts around her, dodging out of their way before they reached her. She beat at her wrist commlink. "I'm coming out now Tal, hope you're ready," but let her hand drop before she heard an answer in order to hit the blast door panel. Twisting and drawing her own blaster with her other hand, she fell through the door as it opened, getting off a couple of shots at her pursuers to try and warn them off. She used the Force to push her awkward fall into a roll and sprang out the other side, bursting out into the open space of the docking bay.

High walls penned in an area big enough only for a few small freighters. The bay was already swarming with troops, but their attention wasn't on her, instead on the supply ship that had just started lift off without clearance. Even as the ship hovered, blaster fire spitting out from its underside, it's entrance ramp lowered. Mara ran at full pelt towards it, seeing a familiar figure harnessed onto the ramp struts, working his way towards the edge and reaching out a hand towards her.

There were too many blaster bolts flying around now for Mara to simply dodge, and realising she had no choice, she threw her blaster to one side and drew her lightsaber. It was the last thing she wanted to do. Yoda had warned her against drawing attention to what she was with it. Its hum encircled her as she spun round to meet and return several bolts, sending white and black troopers diving for cover. In the few moments it brought her, she took three more long strides and launched herself with a Force enhanced leap towards the ramp. Strong hands caught hers and dragged her fully onto it, and she felt the ramp start to lift under her as the ship rose higher.

"Time we were leaving?" Tal said mildly, and she looked up into his cool blue eyes and just nodded. The man never seemed to be phased by anything, which suited her very well at that moment. The hatch completed its seal with a hiss and Tal unclipped himself and headed towards the cockpit, Mara following swiftly behind.

They strapped themselves into the two spare seats in the small cockpit behind Tal's pilot, Cue, just as he accelerated them out of orbit. Mara heard the scream of TIE fighters behind them; the small Imperial outpost had scrambled what few it had and sent them after them.

"They're gaining on us," she said nervously.

"Don't worry, Cue can handle this," Tal said calmly. The ship jinked from side to side as fire from the fighters behind them flew past them. Even from Mara's limited knowledge of space craft, this humble little cargo ship seemed to have more to it than she would have expected. But then, that's what she was paying for.

It seemed an eternity of near misses before they reached the edge of the solar system and clear space. Cue reached forward and pulled the hyperjump lever, and they lurched into endless streaks of stars and finally the safety of hyperspace.

* * *

Mara was gulping down a long drink of water in the ship's small galley when Tal wandered in. The smuggler seated himself on the small built in lounger and watched her in silence until she finished.

"Did you get what you came for?" he finally asked as she wiped her mouth with her sleeve. She filled the metal tumbler again and went and joined him. "Yes." She said shortly.

He'd obviously been hoping for more. She wondered why he cared, so long as he got paid. But Tal seemed to have a curious mind, always poking to find out more about what was going on. Despite that, her instincts – the Force – had nudged her towards him when searching the seedy pilots' dives for a competent ship and crew for her mission. The man was obviously a crook, which jarred with her beliefs that the Jedi were to uphold justice, and he was a pretty seedy, down-on-his-luck crook at that. But something told her to trust him anyway, and Yoda had taught her to trust those instincts.

"Some interesting weaponry you've got there," he observed in a disinterested fashion, nodding towards her lightsaber. Despite his façade, she could feel the curiosity burning in him.

"Use whatever tool works, don't you think?"

"I can't fault you there. Rather attention grabbing though."

She ran a hand through her cropped hair, after all these months still unused to the way it ended so abruptly at her neck. Yoda had insisted the tangled matt of red come off before she left, and now that she was getting used to the norms of human society, she was starting to understand why. "That's why I keep it for special occasions."

"They're quite valuable to the right collector, you know. Lightsabers. If you're not getting much use out of it, I'm sure I could find you a buyer?" His grey eyes evaluated her cooly.

"Thank you. No. Sentimental value… it has."

One of his eyebrows rose almost imperceptibly. "Well, if you find yourself in need of some cash…"

"I won't." She could almost hear him thinking _'Interesting'_ and knew he was putting together all these little facts about her, as though trying to work out a puzzle. She got up abruptly, returning her tumbler to the sink before heading aft to her cramped bunk. She desperately needed rest.

* * *

They dropped out of hyperspace to change course several times over the next few days, to be sure they weren't being followed, Tal told her. Mara was impressed by the way the pair of crooks did it all so smoothly, without a trace of alarm or panic, as though the process were routine. It probably was for them, she supposed. They seemed very practiced at evading pursuit, and she was pretty certain now that their main business must be smuggling or something along those lines. Which made them exactly what she needed for her next steps.

The precautions also brought them extra time in hyperspace to make plans for those next steps, once she had negotiated a price for their continued service. In truth she didn't care how much it cost; credits meant very little to her, and the hidden Nabooian bank accounts that Yoda had given her access to had proved to be well filled. Yoda had impressed on her that when dealing with such folk, not haggling down to the lowest possible price would be considered suspicious. But Mara had no idea what the going rate for such services was, and she had the distinct impression that Tal found the whole process highly amusing, leaving her unsure whether she had got a good deal or not.

Money out of the way, they moved onto the specifics of her mission. Thorough screening of all beings going in and out of Imperial Centre was always in place, and also any objects going in and out. Tal and Cue had both inspected the fake ID documents she'd previously procured and laughed at them; apparently they were in no way up to the task of getting her in. New ones would need to be created.

"We'll need to get you at least three persona's – one to get in, one to get out, and one for down on the ground. Possibly a spare one for on the ground, in case anything goes wrong," Tal glanced up at her with eyes twinkling with amusement. "If your budget will stretch to it?"

Mara gave him a hard look. "I'm sure we can manage something."

"Good. We'll set a course to see some… friends of mine that will be able to arrange those. While we're there, you can arrange transfer of the outstanding amount on our last arrangement and the deposit for this job."

Mara nodded. "That will be fine. How will we get in?"

"Not on this ship, or any private one, I'm afraid. Private, unofficial transports into Imperial Centre attract a lot of scrutiny. Best bet is on some kind of public transport. There are a range of options for that, with pros and cons, and of course, a range of prices."

"I need to be able to smuggle something… unusual out. And of course this in," she glanced at her lightsaber. "Which transport method will be best for that?"

Cue looked alarmed. "You want to take a lightsaber in with you? Are you crazy?"

"Yes. I may need it."

Tal was frowning as well. "That really wouldn't be wise. 'May' need it isn't really a strong enough reason to risk it. If you're found with it – still worse if you light it up, you'll attract the attention of every Imperial officer on the planet. Which is a lot."

Mara scowled. The idea of going anywhere without the weapon made her feel… vulnerable. And leaving it with Tal, who'd already expressed interest in the value of it wasn't appealing either. She tried a different tack. "If I'm going to have to find a means to smuggle something of a similar size out, what difference does it make if I smuggle this _in_ with me?"

Cue let out an explosive breath. "_Everything! _Listen girl, you don't double your risk on this sort of thing, you focus on your aims and stay on target. Listen to people who…"

Mara gasped, the cabin swimming out of focus, voices slipping into the distance as she found herself pulled away. A familiar presence called to her through her ability to hear and see from far away. Her vision darkened and then lightened again, coalescing in the familiar space of Yoda's hut. She saw him in his bed, as though floating above and looking down. He looked so ill and worn, as though many years, not mere months had passed since she had left him. _"Yoda!"_ she said to him through the Force, and she thought for a moment his eyes met her, and yet he did not reply, instead turning over and muttering _"A rest, yes, a rest I need."_ Mara became aware of another presence in the room, familiar to her of old, but now touched with a darkness reflected in the black clothes he now wore. He seemed completely unaware that she was watching, and she decided to stay silent and listen to their conversation. Concern formed in her gut as she realised how weak her Master sounded, seeming weaker with every word.

_"Luke, do not underestimate the powers of the Emperor,"_ Yoda warned with failing breaths. _"Or suffer your father's fate, you will. Luke, when gone am I, the last of the Jedi, will you be. Pass on what you have learned. There is a…noth…er…Sky…w…"_ His eyes closed and he sank into his pillows, seeming now smaller even than he had ever been in life, and then his tiny form simply dissipated into nothing…

And as their bond, that had allowed Mara to hear her Master's voice from across the Galaxy, disintegrated with his passing, she was pulled abruptly out of the vision, nothing left to bind her conscience to Dagobah and let her speak with the boy left behind.

She opened her eyes slowly, becoming aware of a cold metallic surface beneath her backside and the cooling sting of tears running down her physical face. She looked up, to see two curious faces staring down at her from the table over where she now sat on the floor. Tal stood up and reached out a hand to her.

"Are you alright?" he asked mildly. "You zoned out there for a minute."

"Then tipped yourself abruptly onto the floor," Cue added gruffly. He stared at her with open suspicion at her strange behaviour.

"I'm fine," she bit out shortly, ignoring Tal's hand and pushing herself up with her own hands. "Just… exhausted still, from the mission." She sat herself back down at the table. She did feel exhausted, but it had nothing to do with the data raid.

Tal examined her coolly. "Well, in that case, why don't we take a break for a bit? A chance to think over our plans will do us all good. Go and get some rest."

She stared hard at the older man for a moment, thinking of objecting. Yoda had given her a mission, and it was her duty to fulfil it, in his memory. She needed to get on with the job. But she couldn't push aside the deep hollow of grief and pain inside her, and realised she needed to get away from the scrutiny of her companions, to take time to process what had just happened.

To grieve for her Master.

She nodded and got up, stepping over to the hatch that led towards her cabin.


	9. Chapter 9

9.

Mara stared up through the darkness and lights and endless stream of speeders and wondered what the stars looked like that night. Could they be seen at all from this metropolis planet, even from the roofs of the highest palaces? Or did the artificial lights obliterate any reminder of the multitude of stars, and people's lives, that made up the Empire?

She glanced back down at the green cube in her hands, thinking of the life whose memories it held. A life led in devotion to an order that was destroyed to build this Empire. Once, Coruscant had been the seat of the Jedi, abiding in the heart of the Republic. Now the fine Temple that Yoda had told her about, that she had read about, was long gone, absorbed into Palpatines' corruption. Instead of standing as a Padawan in that temple, surrounded by people like herself, here she was in dingy digs on the middle levels of the city-planet.

She sighed. It could be worse – the digs could have been in the subterranean levels, where the criminals and slime resided. The mid-levels were not in-expensive, despite giving the feeling of being near the base of some deep canyon. They were banal enough to avoid drawing attention, homes to the ordinary data-pushers that made the Galaxy turn day to day. It was easy to blend in and go un-noticed here. Tal had chosen well.

Mara tapped the comlink at her wrist and dialled up the crook. "Hey."

"Good evening. Good day at work?"

"Well, you know, I've had worse," she responded with the agreed sign that the theft had gone as planned.

"A day with no drama is a good day if you ask me." If he was impressed at what she'd just pulled off, breaking a heavily guarded object out of the Imperial Palace archives, Tal let no sign of it seep into his voice. He really could be a cold fish at times, she thought. "Fancy grabbing a bite to eat tomorrow?"

"Yeah, sounds good. Same place as usual?"

"Why not? See you there."

"Yes, see you I will."

"Sleep tight." A low click indicated he'd signed off. She frowned at the comlink distractedly. That farewell had deviated from the pre-agreed script, and she wondered if it meant anything. The rest had gone as planned, confirming the time and place for them to meet the next day to start the process of getting off planet again. She was glad to know Tal would be there – she might well not have made it through the security checks on the way in without his experience.

She went over to the narrow bed in the corner of the room and shoved the holocron under the pillow. She arranged her lightsaber under a piece of clothing on the ledge beside the bed, where is would be easy to grab but not easy to spot by any interloper. She climbed in and shut off the light, settling into much needed sleep.

There was darkness and noise. Hum, crackle. Grunts of human noises, and not-quite human noises too; the sounds of people fighting, physically and without restraint. Cackling, in the distance. Someone taking extreme pleasure in others torment. That cackle was strangely familiar, as if from another life. Flashes of green, flashes of red: unnatural light. Mara tried to orient herself in the darkness as more light seeped through, but every time she fixed on something, her own awareness seemed to slip around, unable to hold on to anything tangible. _Dreaming…_ she realised distantly.

The noises stopped, the lights and hum of… lightsabers? she now recognised. Gone for a moment. The sound of heavy steps, seeking. She tried to orient herself again, making sense of the low light. There, hidden under a gantry, a boy. _The_ boy. She'd known him all her life. And yet, not a boy anymore. A man, scarred battlescarred, looking older and more weary than his years should allow. Closing his eyes against words, words his didn't want to hear. She strained to make them out.

_'A sister…'_

A conversation, she could not make it out. Something imperceptible… _changed. _The boy sprung from the darkness, laid into the tall dark figure. The battle recommenced, working it's way across the floor, in front of a wide geometric window looking directly into space. To the space before an old, shrivelled man, cackling still.

And abruptly they stopped the attack on each other, turned, raised their lightsabers, and struck him down.

The Emperor was dead.

Darkness fell.

Yoda's familiar voice echoed through Mara's vision and she jerked awake abruptly, her master's last command still ringing through her mind.

_"Kill Luke Skywalker, you must…"_

Fin.

Authors note: Sorry it took so long to finally finish this: life got hectic (as the eternal excuse always goes). I'm not 100% happy with it, but leaving it unfinished was bugging me, so here you go. This story was always intended to be a prequel to a longer post Return of the Jedi AU, which I will start at sometime, but not for a few months I should think.


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